Thursday, 12 December 2013

The unlovely East End

I love London, and especially the East End of London, and am usually fiercely loyal...but the area where I am working at the moment is really rather grim and hard to love. A dual carriageway thunders through the middle of it, the pavements are greasy and dirty, the Georgian and Victorian terraces were almost all destroyed by a combination of the Luftwaffe and the town planners of the 1960s, and replaced with tower blocks. The shops are tired and half-stocked and people hurry along to get somewhere else rather than linger here.

My fifteen minute walk from the tube station to the hospital does not fill me with wonder and excitement......except for just one short moment when I walk over Regent's canal, and on a clear day can turn my head to the left and glimpse the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf rising out of the early morning mist.

And this is why I will always love East London. Even in the middle of the grime and the deprivation, there's still something unexpected to see which makes me smile and feel alive at the start of a long day's work.

Wow! A lovely well caught shot. Having always lived in the country I find London overwhelming, but I used to find it very inspirationaI. haven't been for many years, the train fair finally became prohibitive and now I don't even go to the V&A, my favourite museum and a lovely part of London.

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